I went to the emergency room last year over what I thought was a blood clot in my leg. My D-dimer was elevated, but they still told me it was a pulled muscle and sent me home.
So when I woke up in June 2024 and had the same pain in the same leg, I ignored it and knew I would not be taken seriously if I went to the hospital.
It felt like I had a badly pulled muscle, but I had not injured myself or done anything to cause muscle soreness. It was very painful to walk, and the only time I felt relief was when my leg was elevated.
This lasted 3-4 days and eventually went away. Over the next few weeks, I increasingly became ill. I was extremely fatigued and could barely keep food down. I ended up losing 15 pounds in a month.
In early July, I woke up short of breath, dizzy, fatigued, and with oxygen in the low 80s. I wasn’t thinking straight at that point.
While sitting on our back patio that afternoon, I almost blacked out. I wanted to lay down on the couch to rest, but thankfully, my husband and my best friend talked me into going to the emergency room.
An hour later, they were rushing me two hours to the nearest big city hospital to be treated for a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism. Scans showed my lungs were more than half filled with blood clots, my heart was enlarged, and my right leg was also filled with clots.
After emergency surgery, a few days in the hospital, and months of recovery, I am doing a lot better. I went through genetic testing to determine I have a factor II prothrombin gene mutation, and possibly an autoimmune disease that caused my clotting episode.
I will be on blood thinners for life. The road to recovery has been long and difficult, but I am ever so thankful that I am still here and able to raise my 5-year-old.
Genetic testing has revealed he also has the factor II mutation. We will need to see a children’s hematologist when he gets a bit older, sometime before he begins any contact sports.
Pay attention to your body, and advocate for yourself. If you think doctors are wrong, ask a different doctor.
Resources
PEP Talk: Genetics of Blood Clots
Factor II
Living Your Best Life on Blood Thinners
